By Tehelka Web Bureau
Srinagar: A seemingly routine question over government holidays turned into a sharp contest over Jammu and Kashmir’s political memory in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, with legislators sparring over which historical figures and events deserve official recognition.
The confrontation came on the second day of the autumn session after National Conference MLA from Anantnag West Abdul Majeed Larmi objected to the government holiday marking the birth anniversary of Maharaja Hari Singh – the last ruling Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir – on September 23 and demanded that holidays associated with National Conference founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah also be restored.
Larmi said that if the government was prepared to observe Maharaja Hari Singh’s birth anniversary as a holiday, it should similarly recognise Sheikh Abdullah’s birth anniversary. He went further, saying that if the latter was not granted, the holiday for Hari Singh should also be withdrawn.
The remarks immediately drew objections from BJP members, triggering noisy exchanges in the House.
Speaker Abdul Rahim Rather intervened to restore order and clarified that the Assembly was not the authority that decided government holidays. He said a member had merely expressed his view before the House.
PDP MLA Waheed Parra backed Larmi’s demand, but broadened the issue by calling for the restoration of July 13 as a government holiday. He said the sentiments of the people should be respected.
The dispute is significant because the dates at the centre of the argument represent very different chapters of Jammu and Kashmir’s political history.
September 23, observed in the 2026 government holiday calendar, marks the birth anniversary of Maharaja Hari Singh, the last ruling Maharaja of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. His reign ended with the state’s accession to India in October 1947, when he signed the Instrument of Accession. The government’s 2026 holiday order lists September 23 as the “Birthday of Maharaja Hari Singh Ji.”
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, meanwhile, was born on December 5, 1905, and became one of the most consequential figures in modern J&K politics. He led the National Conference and served as the state’s prime minister before later becoming chief minister. His politics, particularly his emphasis on land reforms and political representation, left a lasting imprint on the region.
His birth anniversary on December 5 was an official holiday in the erstwhile state. The 2018 government holiday list, for instance, included both July 13 as Martyrs’ Day and December 5 as the “Birthday of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah.”
The debate in the Assembly, however, also touched on another date that carries a particularly charged political history — July 13.
The day commemorates the 22 Kashmiris killed on July 13, 1931, when Dogra forces opened fire on people gathered outside Srinagar Central Jail during the trial of the activist Abdul Qadeer. The incident became a defining reference point in the political mobilisation against Dogra rule and subsequently acquired a central place in the political narrative of Kashmir.
July 13 was an official holiday before 2019. The 2018 government holiday order listed it as “Martyr’s Day”, alongside Sheikh Abdullah’s December 5 birth anniversary. Both dates disappeared from the official holiday calendar after the constitutional changes of 2019.
The removal of those holidays and the introduction of new commemorative dates subsequently became part of a wider argument over how J&K’s history should be officially represented.
Hari Singh’s September 23 holiday was introduced into the official calendar in recent years, while the 2026 holiday list retains it along with October 26, Accession Day. At the same time, July 13 and December 5 do not figure in the current official list.
That juxtaposition has made the holiday calendar more than an administrative document. For different political constituencies, the dates commemorate different understandings of the region’s past — the Dogra monarchy and accession on one side, and the political awakening associated with Sheikh Abdullah and the 1931 martyrs on the other.
Inside the Assembly on Tuesday, that unresolved contest over memory briefly became a contest over the government calendar itself.
NC MLA Mubarak Gul also intervened during the noisy scenes, recalling the reforms undertaken during Sheikh Abdullah’s tenure.
The episode showed how questions of public holidays in J&K can quickly move beyond the question of whether government offices should remain closed. The choice of who and what receives an official day of remembrance can also signal which chapters of the region’s contested political history are being foregrounded — and which remain outside the state’s formal calendar.
